“The ones that were here, I’m proud they were here," Pruitt said. "They’re fired up. They’re ready to get going. And then there were some people that wasn’t here that had legitimate reasons. They couldn’t be here. Then there were some people that wasn’t here that, why wasn’t they here?"

The Vols are coming off a 4-8 season, marking their most losses in a season in program history.

Pruitt took away the autograph session that usually accompanies the spring game, moving it to August.

He also largely kept his players muzzled throughout the spring. Pruitt served as the team's lone voice for the first two weeks of spring practice. He eventually made players available to the media during the third week of the spring. In total, seven players spoke to reporters throughout the spring. No players were available after the spring game.